What Causes Cold Sores And How To Avoid A Cold Sore

What Causes Cold Sores and How To Avoid A Cold Sore

Denny Bodoh

What causes cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes? If you will let me right now, I will reveal what causes cold sores in most sufferers.

What causes cold sores, basically, is the herpes simplex virus. It comes in two varieties - type 1 and type 2. Both create identical sores. Most common is type 1 which is responsible for about 80% of the outbreaks.

The herpes virus, most of your life, is inactive - hiding deep in the nerves, where your facial nerves connect. About a third of those infected will never know they are infected because their body will keep it from activating.

If the herpes virus senses the right conditions, it will travel through the nerves to the surface of your face. It enters surface nerve cells and makes them create clones of the virus.

Once the cell is filled to capacity, or is exhausted, it is eliminated. The new virus spills out. The destruction of a huge number of adjacent cells creates the open ulcer-like wound.

The herpes virus is the root cause of all cold sore, fever blister and oral herpes outbreaks. But what are the right conditions in our body that activates the virus and causes cold sores?

These are the three main triggers that produce the right conditions to activate the herpes simplex virus.

1. IMMUNE SYSTEM WEAKNESS.

An effective immune response is directly related to the quality of your antibodies. Certain factors must be available for your body to build great antibodies.

Building powerful antibodies is dependent on the nutritional value of the food you eat and the vitamin supplements you use.

If you get a lot of outbreaks, your immune system is not strong enough to protect you properly. Eat more vegetables. Your best bet would be organic. Veggies flood you with the best quality, body-ready nutrients you can get.

In addition, it would be smart to add a daily multi-vitamin to your diet. This makes all the difference for many folks in preventing cold sores. But, beware of those worthless grocery store vitamin pills.

Go to a vitamin store and buy a good quality product - or you will be unhappy. The B and C vitamins are important for stress situations, but burn up quickly. You need to replenish these water-soluble vitamins every day.

2. HIGH ARGININE CONTENT IN THE CELLS.

These two essential amino acids (protein fractions) are necessary for your good health. They are also very involved in cold sores, fever blisters and oral herpes.

Arginine does many good things. But it also is the primary protein used by your cells to create herpes simplex virus. Without plenty of arginine readily available, it cannot build new virus (and a new cold sore).

Lysine, on the other hand, is a protein that cannot be used to create herpes simplex virus. The cells have a shared storage area for lysine and arginine. More of one leaves less room for the other.

Flooding your body with lysine by eating high lysine foods will help push arginine out of the cells. Lysine supplements are great for this also. Many people swear by this high lysine treatment for preventing a cold sore.

3. YOUR ACID-ALKLINE BALANCE IS TOWARD THE ACID SIDE.

You are healthiest when your pH level is slightly alkaline. The pH scale ranges from 1 (very acid) to 14 (very alkaline). The perfect level for health is said to be 7.35 on this scale - which is slightly alkaline.

Normally your body will stay between pH 6.5 to 7.4. When your body drops below 7, it is turning acid and will invite herpes simplex virus to become active - ultimately causing cold sores.

The more acid your body, the lower your oxygen levels. This hampers your immune defenses. The herpes simplex virus finds this a perfect environment for activating. Pop - diet or regular - and sugar are acid producing products to avoid.

Cold sores are more frequent in the winter months because of the many acid-producing factors. These include cold temperatures, less outdoor exposure and exercise, lower vegetable intake and drinks like coffee and cocoa.

Avoid acid producing products mentioned above. Eating more green vegetables, like asparagus, will help raise your pH levels. And, you can get excellent alkalizing supplements at the vitamin store.

If you want to know what causes cold sores, there is much more we could talk about. But, the three things mentioned in this article will likely answer what causes cold sores for you.